


Pleasure Cruise

by weakinteraction



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-05-18 14:11:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5931316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weakinteraction/pseuds/weakinteraction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beverly persuades Jean-Luc into going on holiday.  This time, she's definitely going with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pleasure Cruise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DesertVixen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/gifts).



The doors swooshed open and Beverly was hit for a moment by a wave of stale, unbreathed air. As the displays and control panels around her stuttered into life, however, she was struck by how beautiful the craft was. Even more so than the _Enterprise_ herself, the captain's yacht was designed around flowing organic curves: the walkway they had emerged onto from the turbolift spiralled around another down to the main open area, which doubled as lounge and bridge.

"It's beautiful," she said eventually. "I can't believe this has been on the bottom of the saucer section all these years."

Jean-Luc was still grumbling under his breath behind her, something about one-quarter impulse being indistinguishable from the pace of an Alvanian cave sloth, but he broke off long enough to say, "It was never the aesthetics I had a problem with."

"I know, I know," Beverly said, as she looked around. "It's a ... what did you say, 'nonsensical frippery'?"

"Precisely," Jean-Luc said, putting the small holdall down on one of the couches. "The _Enterprise_ has a very large number of perfectly serviceable auxiliary craft, some of which are warp-capable. We most definitely do not need a 'Captain's Yacht'."

"That's your real problem with it, isn't it?" Beverly said waspishly. "The name. You don't like the idea that all this opulence is some sort of perk of your rank."

"Both the name and the ... opulence, if you must, are for the benefit of diplomatic dignitaries. As well you know."

"All right, then, if I agree to call it a Short Range Diplomatic Escort Craft, will you relax and enjoy our vacation?"

It had taken long enough to get him to agree to a vacation in the first place, but the chance to see Liathra VI/VII up close while the _Enterprise_ was docked at Starbase 532 had finally swayed him. The twin planets, and the shared ring system forming a figure-eight between them, were famous as one of those natural phenomena that was probably-but-not-provably unique in the entire galaxy, like the way Luna just happened to exactly match Sol's angular diameter at an eclipse.

She was glad that he had agreed. Leisure time on board the _Enterprise_ never quite seemed to be as leisurely as it should, and Beverly felt that they still had a lot to talk about. Beverly had initially been reluctant to explore what their experiences on Kespryt III meant for their relationship, but somehow hadn't quite been able to say as much to Jean-Luc. Their usual routines had reasserted themselves, but with the inevitable subtle changes that accompanied everything they now knew. Away from the gravitational pull of those routines, without the distractions of their busy lives, they could have what she had started to worry herself by thinking of as _the_ conversation.

Jean-Luc had gone to the replicator and had it make two empty glasses. Beverly raised an eyebrow as he extracted from his luggage one of the last of the bottles of wine his brother had given him when they'd last been back on Earth. It would be foolish to think that Jean-Luc didn't see the significance of their trip for himself, but it was disconcerting to see it confirmed so readily. He poured it and passed a glass to Beverly with an apologetic smile. "You're right, I shouldn't complain. It's always good to try something new."

"Indeed it is," Beverly said. She felt her heartbeat go up significantly.

He rested his glass against hers gently, so that there was barely any clinking noise. "So, to something new," he said, giving her a meaningful look.

"That was right here all along," Beverly responded.


End file.
